They hit the water. Valkyrie’s leg banged against the rocks and she screamed through gritted teeth. The vampire thrashed but she held it down in the darkness beneath the surface. It managed to shake her off and she swam backwards against the current. The waves brought the vampire in towards the rocks and it grabbed them, started to haul itself out. For one terrifying moment, Valkyrie thought the salt water hadn’t worked. But then the vampire’s movements grew weaker, and its hands went to its throat. It turned its head to her, black eyes open wide, mouth gagging gently. Then it stopped.

Valkyrie swam over, pulled herself on to the rocks, moaning in pain. She reached the rusted ladder set into the side of the pier and climbed slowly. Fletcher lay on his back, his breathing shallow and quick. He looked at her as she crawled over.

“With one exception,” he managed to say, “you’ve got terrible taste in men.”

She lay beside him, too tired and sore to answer.

“You’re going to have to take me off speed dial,” he said. “I don’t want to waste time being mad with you, but you’re still not my favourite person in the world right now. I’m not going to be jumping back here every time you get yourself in trouble.”

“I know,” she said. “Fletch? Thank you.”

He nodded, and grimaced. “I am really bleeding a lot here. You might want to hang on. I think we’re in need of some medical assistance.”

Valkyrie moved her hand till she found his. “I was an idiot for the way I treated you,” she said.

“At last,” he said, “something we can both agree on.”

And they vanished.

Chapter 62 - They Walk Among Us

Chapter 62
They Walk Among Us

enny lowered his camera as Valkyrie Cain disappeared into thin air. His hands were shaking. He didn’t know who the kid with the stupid hair was, but he’d find out. And that monster…

This was bigger than he’d ever dared imagine. He stood up on shaking legs, and decided, then and there, that Valkyrie was the name he was going to use for her in the article. It was a good name. Certainly a name that deserved to be spoken aloud alongside Skulduggery Pleasant. But as far as the book was concerned…

He could see it now. A story like this was too big for a mere newspaper article. Much too big. He’d use the article to alert the world, but the full story needed something grander to contain it. It needed a book and an accompanying TV special. He already had a provisional title picked out: “They Walk Among Us: The Sorcerers In Our Midst”. A world-changing exposé on the secret magical subculture that exists in every country around the planet.